A futon sits along the wall after being used in an Airbnb studio in Bernal Heights on March 21, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. Airbnb allowed Noah Dyer and Nick Vaden (not pictured) who came to San Francisco for the Game Developers Conference from the University of Advancing Technology in Arizona to save over $300 on their $1200 travel budget.

A futon sits along the wall after being used in an Airbnb studio in...

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Noah Dyer sits at his computer on his last day staying in an Airbnb studio in Bernal Heights on March 21, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. Airbnb allowed Dyer and Nick Vaden (not pictured) who came to San Francisco for the Game Developers Conference from the University of Advancing Technology in Arizona to save over $300 on their $1200 travel budget.

Noah Dyer sits at his computer on his last day staying in an Airbnb...

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Lorraine Rorke Bader arranges fresh flowers in a room at her home before an overnight guest arrives in San Francisco, Calif. on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2014. Bader rents out the room, with a 3-night minimum stay, for $120 a day using the Airbnb service.

Lorraine Rorke Bader arranges an assortment of tourist information for an overnight guest renting a room at her home in San Francisco, Calif. on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2014. Bader rents out the room, with a 3-night minimum stay, for $120 a day using the Airbnb service.

Local guidebooks and information are available for overnight guests renting a room at Lorraine Rorke Bader's home in San Francisco, Calif. on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2014. Bader rents out the room, with a 3-night minimum stay, for $120 a day using the Airbnb service.

Local guidebooks and information are available for overnight guests...

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A listing for a unit in Chris Butler's former apartment building is shown on the website of AirBnB as Butler speaks with colleagues as his place of work, on Tuesday Jan. 21, 2014. Butler is Chief Operating Officer of Tumlis, a real estate for sale start up company in San Francisco, Calif. He was evicted from his Union Street apartment where he had lived for the past ten years and now his landlord is now renting it out on AirBnB.

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

A listing for a unit in Chris Butler's former apartment building is...

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Toli Kuznets, right, Yukie Kuznets, left, and their one-year old daughter Maya Kuznets pose for a portrait on the patio of their apartment in Bernal Heights on January 12th 2013. They often rent out their apartment on Airbnb.

Photo: Sam Wolson, Special To The Chronicle

Toli Kuznets, right, Yukie Kuznets, left, and their one-year old...

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Andrew Kitchell, Co-founder and director of operations at Beyond Stays, center, gives a quick lesson on the thermostat to Airbnb renter Andrea Minkow, rear, in the rental home in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, February 27, 2014. Beyond Stays, is one of many full-service companies, that take over the the duties of an Airbnb host, and was greeting Airbnb guest Andrea Minkow who is renting a house in the Castro. Kitchell gave her a tour of the home, the key, a gift basket, and instructions for Minkow's stay.

Airbnb, the fast-growing website in San Francisco that lets people rent out their homes or rooms to travelers, took a giant step toward legitimizing itself by agreeing to pay the city's 14 percent hotel tax by the summer.

The move could potentially add millions to city coffers and help Airbnb avoid conflict with regulators, especially if the company, reportedly valued at $10 billion, seeks to go public. Out of the 32,000 cities worldwide where Airbnb operates, San Francisco and Portland, Ore., would be the first ones where it collects hotel taxes.

"We have repeatedly said that we believe our community in San Francisco should pay its fair share of taxes," David Hantman, the company's head of global public policy, wrote in a blog post. "We know from countless discussions with our hosts that they want to pay taxes, but some of these rules are arcane and difficult to follow. Some hosts have even tried to pay taxes in San Francisco and been turned away."

Under the plan, Airbnb would collect and remit to the city taxes that originate directly from guests as an extra charge on their bill, the same way that hotels collect them. For example, a guest staying in a $100-per-night Airbnb room would pay an extra $14 a night.

"I've been pushing Airbnb to pay the transient occupancy tax at the full rate," said Board of Supervisor PresidentDavid Chiu. "Now that they are doing the right thing and remitting taxes, I'm looking forward to moving forward on legislation to regulate shareable housing."

The online vacation-rental service has thousands of listings in San Francisco, ranging from couch space to entire houses. In 2012, the company released a study that claimed it generated $56 million in economic impact to the city. But Airbnb has come under fire from city officials, landlords, hotels and tenant activists for flouting local regulations, including the hotel tax and a ban on renting residential spaces for less than 30 days.

San Francisco has struggled to regulate the 6-year-old company. Chiu's legislation, which has been in the works for almost two years, would establish a framework for Airbnb's operations.

Ian McHenry, co-founder of Beyond Stays, said he welcomed the development as it would simplify paying taxes for the 50-plus Airbnb listings his company manages.

"All the steps that Airbnb and the industry can take to legitimize these sorts of accommodations are positive," he said.

But some critics said collecting taxes does not fully solve Airbnb's issues.

Collecting the tax "might satisfy the city, but it won't satisfy landlords," said Marina Franco, an attorney at Wasserman Stern, who represents property owners.

Landlords increasingly have filed eviction notices against tenants who rented out their apartments on Airbnb, on the grounds that they were violating their leases or the city's ban on short-term rentals, she said.

"Our concerns are the liabilities of having strangers in our buildings, the fact that (tenants) are renting rooms for more than landlords are entitled to charge and that they don't have conditional use permits to run hotels," Franco said.

One Airbnb host briefed on the plan said it would shield hosts' names.

"It will be fuzzy since we are all flying under the radar of zoning laws prohibiting short-term leases," said the host, who declined to be identified. "They would be collecting money for these short-term stays, but hopefully hide where these patrons are staying."

Airbnb faces similar criticism in other cities, most notably New York. Last week, the company appealed for support from New York Mayor Bill de Blasio in a letter, arguing Airbnb hosts could contribute $21 million a year in city and state taxes.

Airbnb last week said it would collect hotel taxes in Portland as part of a new partnership there dubbed the "Shared City" initiative by CEO Brian Chesky. The company said it also will encourage Portland Airbnb hosts to donate some rental income to local charities, help promote the city for tourists, and will try to weed out corporate property managers who abuse its platform.

"Cities are the original sharing platforms," Chesky wrote in a blog post on Medium, referencing Airbnb's status as the poster child for the sharing economy, in which people rent, sell or barter unused resources, such as rooms, cars or their time. If the initiative works in Portland, Airbnb would replicate it in other cities, Chesky wrote.

Airbnb reportedly is now raising $400 million to $500 million, which would value it at a stunning $10 billion - ahead of established hotel chains such as Wyndham Worldwide, Hyatt Hotels and InterContinental.